This Day in History – January 13th, 1830

The 1830’s were a good time for New Orleans and brought the French Quarter to its peak of prosperity. Thanks to cotton and sugar, New Orleans became one of the richest, fastest-growing cities in the U.S. Although the “American Sector” was developing rapidly, the French Quarter was still the center of retail trade (along Chartres) and banking (along Royal). Large houses were still being built, such as the Beauregard House in 1826 and the Hermann-Grima House in 1831. Bourbon Street was lined with several elegant mansions and was considered one of the most fashionable residential streets in the city. The decade, however, did not start so well, as January 13th, 1830 saw the beginning of The Great fire of New Orleans.

Sadly, however, this was not the first time that New Orleans had had a “Great Fire.” The 1788 Great New Orleans Fire destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans on March 21st, 1788, spanning the south central French Quarter from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the riverfront buildings. An additional 212 buildings were destroyed in a later city-wide fire, on December 8th, 1794.